Cheerleaders ditch revealing shorts after complaints from spectators

Fans of the Vandals, the University of Idaho’s American football team, were upset that the cheerleaders’ two-piece uniforms – tops little bigger than a bra, and short skirts that looked like more hot pants – showed too much flesh.

Bruce Pitman, the university dean, said that although there were “a number of fans who liked them”, the outfits had now been deemed inappropriate.

Some of the cheerleaders had also complained that the outfits were not comfortable and did not suit their figures.

"Girls are just bigger these days, not everybody's a size zero," said Shelly Robson, a fundraiser for the university's athletics department. "We're not being a bunch of prudes."

The new uniforms, ordered at a cost of $2,200 (£1,200), feature less revealing tops and skirts that are six inches longer. The outfits will not arrive for a few weeks, so for their most recent game the cheerleaders wore football jerseys and black shorts.

This is the second time this year that the Vandals have altered uniforms for taste reasons. The American football team took the university logo – an “I” – off the seat of their trousers after the first game of the season.

Rob Spears, the university's athletic director, says nobody realised just how the logo placed in the centre of the players' behinds would look before they tried on their uniforms.